Sun Hill Christmas
by stormyskyz
Summary: A kiss under the mistletoe, a drunken Santa, Christmas carol singing and Reg collecting money for charity; it all adds up to a typical Christmas at Sun Hill.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Sun Hill Christmas

**Author:** Jen (aka Storm)

**Rating:** PG-13

**Pairings:** Andrea/Neil.

**Summary:** [Family Trilogy Part 2] A kiss under the mistletoe, a drunken Santa, Christmas carol singing and Reg collecting money for charity; it all adds up to a typical Christmas at Sun Hill.

**Archive:** Anywhere else that wants it, just let me know first.

**Spoilers:** None. Reference to my story Deception.

**Disclaimer:** The Bill and its characters don't belong to me. They never have and never will. I'm just playing with them for a bit. Can I please have John and Claire? They're not in the show anymore after all.

**Author's Notes:** I started this way back in 2005 or 2006 I think, but due to my intense dislike of the holiday in question, and the memories it stirs up, I kept going back to it, then leaving it, which is why you've had to wait until now to get it. I'll apologise in advance for any offence that this story may cause, and I realise that in some places throughout I may have impacted some of my views on the characters. That was never my intention. If I haven't put you off too much, already then please read and send me your comments. They are very much appreciated. Also one last thing. This story is a sequel to Deception and references some events within. These stories were originally gonna form part of a trilogy and conclude with a story titled The New PC, but because I finished The New PC (on paper anyway) well before I'd even got halfway through this, and it differs completely from what I had planned, I have decided to post it as a stand-alone and instead add some of the relevant bits as a final epilogue to this story. Thus reading The New PC before this, may give away some of the ending.

All comments, questions and complaints in a review please. Pretty please?

**Sun Hill Christmas**

"_Deck the halls with bows of holly,_

_Fa, la, la, la, la … la, la, la, la."_

It's that time of year again; the time young children and adults look forward to all year but dread at the same time. A time where everywhere you go is carefully decorated in red and gold, with twinkling lights. Trees adorn doorways and windows and everybody seems to be in a rush. Shops stay open late into the night allowing frantic parents time to buy all the presents they desire. Men dressed in red suits with long white beards sit inside cardboard structures in supermarkets and shopping centres asking young children if they've been naughty or nice. Christmas, hated by some, loved by many.

I walk through the corridors of Sun Hill police station, deliberately ignoring the gold tinsel and red and green streamers surrounding me, courtesy of Reg Hollis. I push open the door in front of me and walk into the locker room where I find my friends complaining that they've got to work Christmas Eve. Little do they know that their predicament is partially down to me having booked the time off a while ago with the intention of flying up North to Scotland to spend the holiday with my family. My plans have changed now though, I've left it too late to book plane tickets and the roads will be icy and slippery to drive on, especially in the hilly areas further North; so I guess this year I'll just stay here. I think I subconsciously wanted to stay here anyway, that way I'll be closer to my 'Mystery Boyfriend', as the others put it.

I am broken from my thoughts when Yvonne asks me a question. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" I ask her, "I was lost in thought."

"Obviously," Yvonne grumbles, "I said, … are you working Christmas Eve?"

"No, I've been lucky this year and have got it off."

"Lucky you," joins in Honey, "You don't want my shift do you?"

"No thanks," I say with a small laugh, "I plan on enjoying myself."

"Good for you, c'mon, we best get to the briefing room."

**10 Minutes Later**

We are all in the briefing room chatting between ourselves, whilst we wait for Inspector Gold to show. She enters the room with Smithy and coughs loudly to get everyone's attention.

"Good morning everyone, just a few things before I hand out your assignments, first of all, if anyone is interested in any overtime over the holidays let me know, Second we all know that crime rates seem to go up at this time of year, especially when the alcohol is flowing, so please be extra vigilant, and lastly, I'd like to remind you all that the Christmas party is being held at 7pm tomorrow night over in the Canley Arms, tickets are £3 and can be bought on the door on production of your warrant card. All money raised will be given to a children's charity. Any questions? … Good."

With that we are dismissed and everybody begins to leave the room, I follow closely behind Yvonne, pleased that I'm to be paired with her today.

**A Few Hours Later**

We are driving around the borough waiting for our first call. "So," Yvonne starts breaking the silence that has settled between us, "are you gonna spend the holiday's with this mystery boyfriend of yours? Who is he anyway? Is it anyone I know?"

"Don't you ever give up? You don't know him," I lie, "and I don't know what he's doing over the holiday's yet, so can't answer that other question."

"How long have you been together now?"

"About ten or eleven months now, on and off; why?"

"Just wondering; I still don't know why you won't tell me who he is, I mean if I don't know him, what's the harm?"

"I'd tell you who he is Yvonne but I can't risk anyone else finding out, he's married."

"Ooh, the plot thickens."

The radio crackles to life putting an end to our conversation.

**12 noon, the Canteen**

I am sitting eating my lunch with Yvonne, Honey, Kerry, Tony and a few others.

"Come on then Andy, what else can you tell us about this mystery boyfriend of yours?" asks Yvonne with a gleam in her eye.

I wish she would stop bringing it up, I've told her more than I've told the others, things I would prefer not to get out. "How many times do I have to tell you?" I say to her, "I can't say anymore than I already have, there's too much at stake here."

"But you're happy with him yes?"

"Yes!"

The DI comes storming into the canteen in a thunderous mood. I try to pay no attention to him, but that's kind of difficult when he's heading in our direction.

"PC DUNBAR … CAN I HAVE A WORD, NOW PLEASE?" he bellows.

"Someone's in trouble," Yvonne sings in my ear, "good luck, it looks like you might need it."

"Yeah," I whisper back, "I wonder what I've done to upset him now?" I say before getting out of my seat and following the DI out of the canteen.

I follow him down a corridor and into an empty interview room. I spend the whole of the short walk trying to determine how mad he really is and what I might have done to provoke such a reaction. He slams the interview room door behind us, the force making the entire room shake. I've never seen him like this before and it's kind of scary.

"Sir," I say tentatively, biting my lip nervously.

He doesn't say anything at first. I watch him silently for a few minutes too scared to speak encase I say something to upset him further. Gradually his face softens into a small lopsided grin. "I'm sorry if I scared you?" he says, "I just wanted to speak to you alone."

"Neil," I say quietly to indicate that I'm listening.

"I've been thinking and …" he stops quickly changing his question halfway through, "…are you going to Scotland for the holidays?"

"I'd thought about it, but it's too late to book a plane ticket now and the roads will be too icy up North so I'll probably just stay here this year, why?"

"I was thinking that maybe we could spend a bit of time together," he says without hesitation.

"But what about …?"

"Already sorted, Phillipa's going to some big family thing in France, she won't be back until the new year, so …?"

"What about Jake? Is she taking him with her?"

"I don't know yet, but it doesn't matter, he's too young to understand, and besides, he'll be glad to have someone to play with."

"What if he says something to Phillipa?"

"He won't and even if he does, I'll think of something, don't worry about it."

"Ok, if your sure," I say, still a little wary of the idea.

"You better get back before Yvonne and the other's come looking for you," he suggests with a sigh, "If they ask, just say I was giving you grief over some paperwork or something."

"Ok," I say walking towards the door.

He stops me before I reach it and plants a kiss on my lips, which I return wholeheartedly.

"See you later," he says when we break apart for breath, before walking past me and disappearing in the direction of CID.

I follow him out of the door and walk back to the canteen to finish my lunch.

I approach my table of friend's watching their expressions closely for signs that they've noticed I'm back, silently preparing for their inquisition. I guess I should be used to lying by now, I've done enough of it, but I still fear that someone can see through my words and knows that I'm not telling the truth. It's especially hard with people I consider to be friends. I sit down beside Yvonne and dig in to what remains of my now cold lunch.

20 minutes later we return to the car for the remainder of our shift, praying that it's a quiet afternoon. We pass the time with random chatter, and I spend a lot of time staring out of the passenger window. I'm not feeling too good, I hope I'm not coming down with the flu.

"Are you ok?" Yvonne asks me, "your really quiet today?"

"Yeah I'm fine," I lie easily, "I was just lost in thought."

"Anything interesting?" she asks, "It's not about this mysterious boyfriend of yours is it? and while I think about it, you never told us what the DI was so mad at you about."

I panic slightly, hoping she hasn't figured out our little secret before saying, "Nothing you'd be interested in, he was just giving me grief over some paperwork, to be honest I think Phil Hunter said something to upset him."

"They not got over that argument yet then?" she asks referring to the incident in the canteen a few months back.

"No, I don't think they have, but can you blame him all things considered?"

"I guess not," Yvonne responds before changing the subject, "Are you going to the Christmas party tomorrow night?"

"I dunno, I haven't really decided yet, you?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Last year the DI and DCI were really drunk and they were singing very off-key Christmas carols."

"I'll have to remember that for possible blackmail material," I say only half joking.

The rest of the shift passes by steadily and it's not long before we both head back to the station to to get changed and return home.

We exit the locker room together, still chatting aimlessly, until we notice the DI hovering near the doorway.

"Sir?" Yvonne says, wondering why he's here.

"Have you had time to finish that report yet?" he asks, his question directed at me.

I stare at him quizzically for a few seconds, until it clicks what he's on about, "Not yet sir," I reply, "but I'll have it to you first thing tomorrow."

"Be sure you do," he says, before asking, "Your not going home are you?"

"Yes sir," I reply, not realizing what he's doing.

Yvonne cuts in and says that she'll "see me tomorrow" before wondering off, and it's only then that I figure out what he's up to.

Neil waits until he's sure she's gone and not spying on us from around the corner before continuing, "Phillipa left for the airport about an hour ago. She's just texted me and said she's boarding the plane. Jake's staying here, but he's gone to his mates house tonight."

"I'm not sure I understand," I say not knowing where this conversation is heading.

"So I've got tonight free if your up to it," he adds in a whisper.

"Sure," I say finally clicking on, "I'll see you later," I add before turning towards the exit.

**A Few Hours Later**

A loud knocking on my front door breaks through my thoughts and I get up to open it. Neil walks past me through the open door and over to sit on the sofa. I follow him silently. We've done this so many times that the need for words has become unnecessary. I settle down next to him on the sofa curling up into his arms. We sit like this for a long time, the telly blaring away in the background.

"Are you going to the Christmas party tomorrow night?" I ask him the same question Yvonne asked me earlier today.

"Are you?" he responds.

"I dunno yet, I guess I wanted to know what you was doing first," I admit.

"I'll go if you do," he states, "that's if it's ok for Jake to stay at his mates house for another night. I can't help but think that I rely on them a bit too much."

"You could bring him along to the party," I suggest.

"I guess, but how would I explain that one?"

"Simple, just tell the truth, it's hardly incriminating, and he hasn't met me yet so he can't say anything about us if that's what your worried about."

"Maybe," he say's trailing off.

Another comfortable silence settles over us. It's times like these that I allow my mind to wonder; to explore the 'what if's' of our relationship and reminisce on the events that have led us up to this point. I often wonder how things would be different if we'd met under different circumstances; if he wasn't married and I wasn't an undercover journalist. If we didn't have to keep things between us a secret.

Several hours pass with us siting silently cuddled up on the sofa, before we silently decide to migrate to bed, where we can curl up beneath the warm covers instead. We lie feeling warm, comfortable and safe in each others arms, before drifting slowly off to sleep, knowing tomorrow will be another long day.

To Be Continued ...


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**6am the next morning**

I wake up and rub the sleep from my eyes. I look around the room struggling to get used to the early morning light, even though its still quite dark out. As I look out of the window I notice a thin veil of snow that must have fell in the early hours of this morning. I let out a small shiver, feeling the cold penetrate the small gap in the blanket from where I have moved. I flatten the blanket and roll over on top of Neil, placing a loving kiss just above his collarbone and moving slowly southwards.

He wakes up and pulls my head level with his before giving me a proper morning kiss, that I willingly surrender to. I wish we could wake up like this every morning, I'm sick of waking up to find him gone in a morning, but I guess it's something I've got to put up with due to the secret nature of our liaisons. I push the thought away and concentrate on making the most of this morning.

It's a good hour or so until we finally make the effort to get up, and again we both end up late for work in a very messed up state.

"What was you up to this morning then Andy?" Yvonne asks me when I walk into the locker room, with my hair messed up and several buttons of my blouse undone, or simply buttoned in the wrong order.

"Nothing," I lie, "I just slept in, didn't hear my alarm clock go off."

"Your alarm clock or your mystery boyfriend's alarm clock?" she asks me with a smirk, knowing she's got me cornered.

"C'mon you lot, get a move on," Inspector Gold calls out, poking her head into the room.

We rush to put our uniforms on before heading to the briefing room.

The start of the shift is slow and thankfully I'm paired with Tony Stamp so I shouldn't have to worry about answering too many awkward questions. Our first call is to the Canley Shopping Centre, where some drunk is causing a disturbance. Tony takes the lead, and for that I'm thankful, my head really isn't in it today.

The bloke causing the disturbance, some idiot dressed in a Santa's suit, is arrested and carted back to the nick. Maybe some time in a Cell will help him to sober up. We stop for a cup of coffee in the canteen before returning to the beat, but after half an hour of driving around I'm seriously beginning to regret that cup of coffee, my stomach is churning. Our next call to a fight at a pub cements that decision when after everything has calmed down, I throw up my breakfast into a rubbish bin.

"Are you alright?" Tony asks, acting like a concerned older brother and soothingly rubbing my back.

"I think so," I reply when I'm sure no more is going to come up.

Tony helps me back to the car and I sit down in the passenger seat, until I feel a little better. As soon as Tony thinks I feel up to it we return to the station. It's nearly time for ref's anyway and we've both got mountains of paperwork to complete.

About half of an hour later, I am running up the stairs to CID to hand them some paperwork when I run into Neil. "Are you ok, you look a little pale?" he asks.

"I'm fine, it's just the weather," I say, there's no point in worrying him over nothing.

"Alright, if your sure. By the way, about the Christmas party that everyone's going on about," he says, looking around to see if anyone's in hearing range, "I am gonna have to bring Jake, his friend's are busy."

I notice DS Nixon approach the top of the stairs and so I reply with, "alright Sir, I'll probably see you there," in the most professional tone I can muster.

He gets the hint and we both continue to our former destinations.

**Later that Evening at the Christmas Party**

I am sitting by the bar with Yvonne and Honey, laughing and joking, when we all notice the main door open and a little boy of about 5 or 6 walks in, followed closely by Neil. He is immediately ambushed by Meadows, Okaro and Gold Dragon. God help us if she ever found out what we call her.

"Couldn't find a babysitter then Neil," asks Meadows' loud enough for the whole room to hear.

I listen in discreetly, intrigued by the conversation. "No," Neil replies, "Everyone I know is busy and Phillipa's visiting family in France."

Gina bends down to speak to the little boy, I struggle to hear what she says, but it's obvious from the way his face lights up that he likes what he hears. I watch her stand up properly, Neil then picking Jake up and heading in our direction. I pretend to be engrossed in the conversation, not sure I want Neil to know he was being watched, even though he probably already knows.

"Want a glass of cola?" Neil asks his son.

"Yes please daddy," his young voice rings out.

Neil steps up to the bar right beside me, Jake still in his arms. He is careful not to show any emotion as he deliberately runs a stray hand down my right side, without anyone noticing. Honey is the first person to speak. "Aww isn't he cute," she comments about Jake.

It takes me a minute to realize what she's talking about, and I let out a nervous laugh to cover my embarrassment. It seems like Yvonne had a similar thought to me as she looks at Honey like she's gone mad, before realizing. "You had me worried for a sec there Hon, I thought you was on about the DI, no offence Sir."

"None taken," Neil replies.

"How old is he?" Yvonne asks about Jake.

"Four next month," Neil replies, with a swift glance in my direction.

Yvonne reaches out an hand to Jake before saying, "Hello sweetie, what's your name?"

"J...Jake," he answers nervously not used to all the attention.

"These are some of the people I work with," Neil explains to his son, before pointing to each of us in turn and introducing us.

Jake trys to copy each name as he hears them, coming up with some strange pronunciations.

Neil suddenly looks up startled. I follow his gaze to the door but cannot figure out what has caught his attention. "Can you keep an eye on him for a sec," Neil says to me placing Jake in my arms, "I won't be long," he adds before disappearing.

I watch startled for a few seconds before turning my attention to Jake. "So," I ask him, "are you excited about Christmas?"

Jake nods his head a few times before speaking, "Yep but mommy's not gonna be here this year, she's gone to Fwance to visit her bwothers and swisters an won't be back till next year. Uncle Phil's gone as well but daddy doeswn't know that. Daddy said we could spend some time with some of his fwiends until mommy comes back. Are you some of daddy's fwiends?"

"I guess," I reply at how much the young boy has revealed. I am tempted to ask who 'uncle Phil' is, but I've got a feeling I already know, and it's not something I want to bring up in front of Honey and Yvonne.

"Sorry about that," Neil says appearing next to me slightly out of breath, "I thought I saw a missing witness. He hasn't given you any trouble has he?"

"Of course not," I answer, "He was just telling me how excited about Christmas he is."

"Which has just reminded me of something else I haven't done," he adds with a sigh.

"Anything we can help with?" Honey asks sounding close to being very drunk.

"Not unless you can do my shift tomorrow," Neil states.

Honey backs off at that, "I thought as much," he mumbles.

"Why do you need tomorrow off?" I ask him.

"I forgot to organize for someone to baby sit Jake, and it's a bit late now, I dare say everyone will have already made plans."

"I can look after him if you want," I answer, "I've got until the 3rd of January off now."

"You don't mind?" he asks hopefully.

"Of course not, it's not like I had much planned for tomorrow."

"Ok, if your sure, I'll drop him off in the morning on my way to work."

"No problem," I reply, noticing I've still got Jake in my arms.

"He seems like you," Neil points out quietly.

I look at the small head resting sleepily on my shoulder and smile warmly at him. I carefully pass Jake back to his father, who after whispering something into my ear wonders off to talk to some of the others.

The warmth from where Jake was leaning on me cools quickly and I feel myself shiver at the drastic change in temperature.

Its few hours later when everyone's well on there way to getting drunk that Neil makes his way back over to us. I notice that Jake is fast asleep in his arms. Yvonne and the girls are holding on to the edge of the bar in order to stay upright. "Are they ok?" Neil asks me, motioning to Honey and Yvonne.

"They're a little on the tipsy side," I state making drinking motions with my hands.

He lets out a snort of laughter. "I'm nwot Dwrunk," Yvonne states, sounding very much like Jake in her pronunciation of the words.

"Sure your not," I state sarcastically, "and I've got a sign on my head that says I'm a monkey."

"Really?" Honey asks staring at me with wide eyes.

I can't help but laugh at there drunken antics. Neil joins in as well, and we turn to fits of giggles.

"Jingle Bells, Jingwl beps...," we can hear someone singing, albeit badly from across the room.

"We wish you a mewwy Christ (burp) mwas," Inspector Gold sings, obviously very drunk, like most of the people in the room.

"Have you got a camera?" I ask Neil.

"I've got my phone," he replies quickly, wondering what I'm up to.

"That'll do," I say holding my hand out to receive the phone as he passes it to me.

Once in my possession, I switch it to camera mode and immediately begin snapping photos of the drunken officers scattered throughout the room. Neil takes this time to settle Jake into a chair; his sleeping form beginning to way heavy on his fathers arms.

"What's wrong with your own phone?" he asks me, upon returning to my side.

"Battery's dead," I explain simply.

I can't help but laugh as I take a photo of Reg Hollis walking around the room in a Santa's hat, carrying a big orange bucket to collect money for charity. Typical Reg; or of Gina Gold and Superintendant Okaro sharing a kiss. You can almost ignore the presence of someone holding a sprig of mistletoe above their heads.

Yvonne and Honey start laughing hysterically and pointing wildly at me.

"What? What?" I ask confused.

I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn to see who is responsible. Gary Best stands staring at me pointing at something just above my line of sight. I follow the direction of his finger with my eyes, eventually spotting the offending sprig of mistletoe dangling from his other hand. I lower my eyes to spot Neil standing directly opposite me, the mistletoe dangling precariously between us. I close my eyes and laugh silently; what a predicament. "C'mon guys, in the sprit of Christmas," Gary prompts us.

The decision of what to do is taken out of my hands when Neil leans forward and kisses me lightly. I lovingly return his kiss, momentarily forgetting where we are. It is several minutes before we part, both gasping for breath. As we open our eyes we realise the whole room is staring at us in shocked silence. "Wow, that was intense," comments Honey, breaking through the tense atmosphere in the room.

"Your telling me," Yvonne adds.

"You think we can convince them it was a drunken one off?" Neil asks me, barely above a whisper.

"I hope so," I answer warily.

"Ok break it up people, come on," someone shouts diverting the attention from us and onto them self, "It's carol singing time."

"Oh no," I groan.

"Silent Night, Holy Night...," someone sings, the others soon joining in. I block the scene from my head.

To be Continued....


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**The Next Morning**

I wake up to the sun glaring in my eyes and a pounding headache, that seems to intensify with every movement I make. "How much did I have to drink last night?" I ask the air, not expecting an answer.

"Enough," a deep familiar voice says from beside me.

I turn onto my side to try and identify the speaker, grasping a hand to my head in agony as bright white light shoots across my eyes. Realising that moving isn't such a good idea, I reach out an hand blindly trying to feel the identity of the speaker.

"Hey, watch my eye," the voice yelps.

"Sorry," I mumble, "Can't see."

I sit up suddenly then, ignoring the pain and bright lights, I stumble into the bathroom, reaching the toilet just in time to avoid spewing up on the floor.

"I don't feel so good," I mumble, sensing that the mysterious person is now standing behind me.

"I'm not surprised," the person answers.

I look at him then, fighting through the pain. "Neil," I mumble finally seeing through the haze.

"Who'd you think it was? The Super?" he asks.

"I dunno," I mumble, before returning my head to rest on the toilet again.

"I'll get you a glass of water and a paracetomol," he says standing up slowly and heading towards the kitchen.

He returns a few minutes later with a glass and the bottle of pills. He fills the glass with water from the sink, then dispenses two of the tablets onto his hand before offering them to me. I take them cautiously, and then swallow nearly the whole glass of water to wash them down and clear the tang from my mouth. It's several minutes before either one of us moves in an effort to get dressed. "Are you sure you'll be ok looking after Jake for the day?" Neil asks me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine when the tablets have kicked in," I reply.

"Alright, I'll try and get out early and I'll call on my lunch break to see how you're doing."

"Ok, I'll see you later," I say kissing him gently before he heads out of the door to work.

I watch him drive away from the building before shutting the door and returning to the kitchen. On approaching the kitchen, I notice Jake standing in the doorway, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Daddy gone to work?" he asks me.

"Yeah," I reply, "Are you hungry? Let's see what we've got for breakfast."

I rummage through the cupboards searching for something we can eat for breakfast. "How about weetabix?" I suggest realising I'm well overdue a grocery shop.

"Ok," Jake agrees, "Can I have sugar on them though?"

"Sure," I say. preparing the snack.

We both settle down at the table to eat it. "Looks like we're gonna have to pop to the supermarket to get something in for lunch," I think out loud, "Maybe we can pick out a DVD to watch this afternoon," I add, looking at Jake to gauge his reaction.

"Ok," he nods.

I finish my breakfast and get up to wash my dish out in the sink, picking up Jake's and doing the same once he as finished eating as well. After that I usher him back upstairs to get dressed so we can go out. The sooner I can get the shopping in, the better. Once we are both dressed in thick coats and jumpers, we head out to the car, and head for the shops. I make a mental note of what I need to get as I strap Jake into his car seat.

When we arrive at the local ASDA superstore, I struggle to find a parking space in the already overcrowded car park. Eventually I find one and after collecting a trolley from the trolley bay in front of the store, we head inside. We walk carefully along the aisles, placing the items I need into the trolley, and being extra careful not to bump into the other shoppers. I decided to put Jake in the trolley seat so he doesn't get lost in the crowds.

The announcers voice sounds over the tannoy system, "Hello and Welcome to ASDA Canley, my name is Sarah and I am your store greeter for today, in the foyer, here at the front of the store we have some bread and rolls, reduced to just 10p each, come down and take a look. If you have any questions you will find me here in the foyer where I will be happy to help," the announcement ends with a loud buzzing and I cover my ears to protect them from the sound.

I HATE hangovers, everything sounds unnaturally loud.

Once my ears have stopped ringing, we continue our trip around the store. I'm sure it wasn't this big last time. My phone rings then, bringing me out of my thoughts. I fish it out of my pocket and answer it without looking at the caller's name. "Hello?" I say into it.

"Hey, are you ok? Where are you?" Neil asks.

"ASDA," I reply, "I just realised I was running a little low on groceries."

"How's Jake?" he asks.

"He's fine, good as gold," I say, "Here Jake, say hello to your dad?" I add, passing the phone to the young boy.

"Hello daddy!" Jake says into the phone.

He listens to what is being said to him, responding with yes's or no's at various intervals. "Ok daddy bye," he says finally passing the phone back to me.

I finish the conversation I was having with Neil, say my goodbyes, before retuning the phone to my pocket and continuing to finish the shopping. We eventually reach the checkouts and it's not till I've put everything on the belt, that I realise how much I've bought.

"Hello, can I help you with your packing?" the young girl on the till asks me in an overly cheery voice, when it's my turn to be served.

"I should be ok, but if I start struggling your welcome to help," I say.

She puts the items through the till and I pack them into bags, putting the full bags into the trolley. "He's very well behaved," she comments about Jake.

We finally reach the end and the girl announces the total of my goods. "That will be £101.53 pence please!" the girl states.

That's gonna put a dent in my bank balance I think as I hand over my credit card. I pay the bill then return to my car to pack the shopping.

A few hours later I'm back at home. Jake is sitting in the living room, watching the new DVD I bought for him, when there is a knock at the door. "I bet that's your dad," I say to Jake before getting up to answer it. "Or not," I mumble opening the door to see Honey and Yvonne standing on the other side of it; "I wasn't expecting you guys today," I say to them.

"Who were you expecting then?" Yvonne asks me, "Your mystery boyfriend?"

"No," I falter, "I was waiting for the DI,"

"Why on earth...?" Honey trails off.

"I'm babysitting his son," I explain, motioning to Jake.

I decide to usher them into the kitchen out of the cold. I invite them to take a seat at the kitchen table before putting the kettle on. Shortly afterwards there is another knock on the door, but this time the door opens on it's own and Neil walks in. I forgot that I gave him a spare key.

"Hey, I'm back," he calls out not knowing that Honey and Yvonne are here.

"In the kitchen," I call out knowing he knows his way around.

"Hey, hows ...," he starts to say but stops when he sees Yvonne and Honey sitting at the table nursing a cup of tea each.

"Wanna cuppa?" I ask quickly to cover his hesitation.

"Yeah sure," he says shaking his head in confusion, not really knowing what to do.

"Sit down," I suggest, "Jake's in the living room watching the lion king," I add answering his unasked question.

He glances in the direction of the living room, before sitting at the table opposite Yvonne, with a sigh.

"That bad?" I ask, sensing that he's had a rough day.

"Worse," he mutters, " the witness from the assault case has gone walkabout's, the DCI's been in a rotten mood all day and to top it all off the press are having a field day regarding unfounded accusations about that drug raid last week," he explains.

"What accusations," I ask.

"Read this," he says, handing me a copy of today's edition of the Canley Gazette.

"Armatures," I mumble noticing the many inaccuracies in the article, "they could of at least got there facts straight."

He lets out a snort of laughter at my comments. I told him about my past as a newspaper reporter a few months ago, and after a few initial arguments, we got over it. "It's not those errors I was talking about," he comments.

"I know, bad habit," I reply.

"What are you talking about?" Yvonne asks confused.

"Long story," I answer her, knowing it will be difficult to explain to her how I know so much about what CID are working on at the moment.

"Are you working tomorrow?" I ask Neil, returning to our conversation.

"I need to go in for a couple of hours to tie up some loose ends, but then I'm off till the 27th; you couldn't keep an eye on Jake again could you?" he adds thoughtfully, "It'll only be a couple of hours tops."

"Sure no problem," I reply instantly.

"Daddy," Jake shouts running into the room and jumping into Neil's lap, excited to see him.

"Hey Jake," Neil says tiredly, "You had a good day?"

"Yep, we went shopping and then after dinner we played board games and watched the lion king. It was fun."

"That's good."

"Do you want another glass of orange juice?" I ask him.

"Yes please," Jake answers me.

I make the drink and put it on the table next to Neil's.

"Ok, why are you really here?" I ask, turning my attention back to Honey and Yvonne, knowing they must have an ulterior motive for there visit.

"We already told you," Yvonne says, "we wanted to see how your feeling today."

"Maybe, but I know there's something else, there always is."

"Ok, ok," Honey concedes defeat, "We wanted to discuss last night."

"What about last night?" I ask them knowing where this is going.

"About that kiss under the mistletoe," Yvonne states getting straight to the point.

"Oh, come on, there's nothing to say."

"You did seem a little ... friendly," Honey points out.

"Well, just incase you've forgotten. I was drunk and so were you. It was a drunken, heat of the moment thing, so forget about it," I explain sticking to our plan.

"And that's why he walked you home then?" Honey asks not convinced.

"What was you expecting me to say?" I ask them careful about what I'm saying.

They still don't look convinced. "Alright," Neil says joining in on the conversation, "You want the full story I'll tell you," Neil states, turning to look at me at the end of his sentence as if to ask my permission.

I nod my head in agreement. I'm not sure what he's planning on telling them but I no he's not stupid enough to tell them about us.

"I can understand why you think there's something more, something we're hiding, but it's not what you think"

"I'm not sure I understand Sir," says Yvonne.

"Skip the formalities, it's not needed here," he pauses to group his thoughts, "You remember a few months ago when I went out on the beat with you?"

"Yes," Yvonne says hesitantly.

"Well you remember that incident in the canteen with Phil Hunter?"

"How could we forget," says Honey, "but what's that got to do with this?"

"That's what I'm about to tell you. The events of those few days have changed everything for me. I needed to talk to someone about it at the time, but didn't know who. I've never really been the sort to turn to others with my problems, so I was a bit lost. I tried to think of all the people who I knew who would listen without adding it to the gossip network and without being to close to see it objectively."

"So who did you turn to?" asks Yvonne.

"Me," I reply filling in some of the gaps, "even if it was two of the morning."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Neil says.

"Don't worry about it," I reply, carefully squeezing his hand in reassurance.

"Well anyway, to cut a long story short, she listened to my ranting and then let me stay over until morning," he explains, "Get your minds out of the gutter," he adds, "it was completely innocent."

'Yeah right' I say to myself, 'We couldn't do innocent if we tried.'

"I don't get the connection still," states Yvonne.

"Me neither," adds Honey.

"What I'm trying to say is that even though we may seem, how did you put it, overly friendly at times, it not at all sexual."

Who are we trying to kid here? We can't keep our hands off each other for more that a couple of weeks at a time even if our lives depended on it.

A few hours later Honey and Yvonne have gone home and Jake, Neil and myself are curled up on the sofa watching a Disney movie on TV.

"Are you staying over tonight?" I ask hoping he'll say yes.

"Do you think it's such a good idea with your friend's asking questions earlier? It wouldn't surprise me if they're camping outside to see if I actually leave."

"Don't worry about them, I want you to stay. Besides, Jake's already asleep, it wouldn't be fair to wake him," I say lying my head against his shoulder.

He lets out a deep thoughtful breath before saying, "alright, I'll stay."

I lean over to kiss him, showing him what I think of his answer. He doesn't disappoint and returns it willing. We part a few minutes later gasping for breath.

"I think it's time we call it a night." Neil says as soon as he's caught his breath.

I nod in answer as he returns his lips to mine for another passionate kiss. Again we part gasping for breath, startled at the intensity. We take a few minutes to get our breathing back to normal before getting up and heading to the bedrooms. Neil makes sure that Jake is carefully tucked up into the other room before climbing into bed beside me and pulling me into his arms. I cling to him, feeling an irrational urge to get as close to him as I possibly can. It's only a matter of minutes before we give into temptation and make love into the early hours of the morning.

To be continued....


End file.
